Instructor: Kamala Russell
Term: Summer 2019 Session: A
Time: M, T, W, Th 12:00pm - 1:59pm
How do the technological devices, applications, and processes that are all around us shape the way we communicate? How do platforms for communication and social networking produce both social worlds and new forms of community? What debates and concerns are circulating around the effects of such infrastructures for human sociality?
Through reading and in-class activities, this course will introduce students to analytical tools from linguistic anthropology, social theory, cognitive science, science and technology studies, and media studies in order to examine contemporary forms of technologically mediated communication. Students will apply these skills and perspectives to digital 'fieldwork' with a technological object of their choosing, which will culminate in a final paper and short presentation. There are no prerequisites. This course fulfills the second half of the University of California’s Reading and Composition requirement.